African Yoruba House of the head, basket with cowrie shells overlaid, leather handles, leather bird atop.

Yoruba people are believed to venerate an individual's 'inner head', a spirit responsible for the person's destiny. The symbolic inner head is preserved in a container called 'house of the head.'

It is made from leather and cloth and covered with cowrie shells, which are associated with wealth, a sign of the owner's prestige in the tribe.

Acquired in 1996 from Hamidu Sellah, establishing an age of at least 26 years as of 2022. Maker unrecorded..
21" tall x 8" diameter. #AGF415

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American Indian pottery and Native baskets

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